


Clipped Wings

by Ephemeral_Love (orphan_account)



Series: Black, Tight, Leather Suits [2]
Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Catlad, F/M, The Flying Graysons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-12
Updated: 2016-08-12
Packaged: 2018-08-08 07:03:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7747834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/Ephemeral_Love
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She didn't expect the sight of a falling kid to hit her so hard.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Clipped Wings

**Author's Note:**

> Criticism appreciated XD

She didn't expect the feeling of being able to talk to someone so late at night to feel so nice, but it was, nicer than she ever remembered it being. Bruce-- and she told herself to call him that and not Mr. Wayne because this far into the relationship that would be  _weird_ \-- took her out and bought her stuff to the point that her room looked like a tornado of dresses and shoes, and she was sure that if she really let him (and wasn't quite sure why she  _wasn't_ letting him) he would pay for her rent and her insurance and everything else she could possibly need.

He talked a lot, too. Most of it was fluff, the kind of buff that she used herself while seducing her way out of some sticky situation, but every once in a while she'd catch something he'd say that was too out of place to be anything other than the truth. But even the bullshit was soothing in a way that was just letting someone else talk to the point that their voice becomes background noise. 

"You never ask for anything, you know," He says one night. The phone is on speaker and Selina's lying in her bed, paying with one of the pretty, sharp, black knives that Harley leaves hanging around the house. "Don't you need anything?"

"If I need it," Selina sighs, and she can tell that he's expecting something like,  _I would have asked for it already_ , or something like that, "I take it."

He chuckles, "That you do," And she snorts, saying, "Do you have a problem with that, Mr. Wayne?" And she curses herself for a second before she realizes it sound playful.

"Hum," he hums lightly, "The lack of manners wounds me, Ms. Kyle."

"It never seemed to bother you before," she purrs,

"That was under," He takes a quick intake of breath, " _different_ circumstances." He barks out a laugh just as she rolls her eyes, and then he invites her out to some other Wayne event, one with a big tent and casual clothes that consisted of baseball caps and sunglasses so they could avoid the paparazzi until absolutely necessary.

For the amount of time Wayne spends on camera, Selina would have figured that he would be worse at avoiding the cameras, but it turns out dodging them was his specialty. She'd be ready to throw a dart, or maybe they'd just be wandering around aimlessly, and he'd randomly grab her arm and pull her behind a booth or casually drag her into a group with people tall enough that she would have to jump to look over their shoulders, and seconds later a group of paparazzi would trudge around the corner.

He would usually wink at her from under the brim of his cap, and she would  _have_ to give him credit, because half of the time she didn't even realize they were there and dodging people was her specialty, too.

Eventually they head to the Big Tent where he hides in a corner and gets out of his casual clothes, reveals a nice tux that probably costs more than the circus is making in a year, and he puts on that blinding smile and takes her hand, walks her to his reserved seat at the front and she suddenly remembers that _Bruce_ is the one who pays for the circus to come across seas every year.

They're halfway through the show, talking and whispering to each other like any other couple should do, when Bruce shushes her and tells her to watch, says, "This is the part I pay to see."

"You pay that much money just to see this?" She murmured and flicked another piece of popcorn into her mouth. "It must be good, then."

"It is," He sighs. "The best."

Selina watches the performers skip to the middle of the ring, just three of them, and then watches them walk over to the large platforms and start climbing. "Trapeze?" She whispers, and Bruce nods. Her eyes follow the little one trailing behind his mother smiling like it was the best day of his life, and vaguely listens to the announcement that this is his first time preforming like his parents, without the safety of the net.

Selina raises her eyebrow and watches them jump, flip, and has to admit that they were good, that if the little one was nervous he didn't show it. She wasn't sure they were good enough for her to pay for their trip overseas, but she glances over at Bruce and knows he definitely thinks it is. He isn't smiling the way she thought he would be, or maybe that glossy-eyed look she's seen people get when they get really into a movie and forget about the world (she doesn't realize she's never seen Bruce with that look) but he's got an intense stare, dark and focused, a facial expression she didn't even know he could pull.

It takes her a while to realize his eyes are following the little one, and she shoves him slightly with her shoulder. "What's the kitten's name?"

His eyes break away for a second to glance at her before training back on the Flying Graysons, and he says in a low voice, "Richard."

"He's good," She says and pulls Bruce's coat tighter around her shoulders, doesn't quite remember when she took it and is sure she's ruining it somehow.

"I know," His voice rumbles, dark and matching the intensity in his eyes. "I've been watching him for a while."

She decides to ignore the comment, to pretend it didn't sound creepy and she rests her head on his shoulder, huffing air and pouting. It probably would have sounded fine if Ivy hadn't spent the past weeks showing her every dirty article on Wayne, telling her her boyfriend is a creep, but a rich creep, and a kind of creep that's worth the money.

*

She isn't sure how far into the show they are, when the rope snaps and the parents fall. She just remembers watching the little one, thinking that he got lucky when his rope snapped, that he was lucky his momentum got him far enough to grip the edge of one of the platforms. He was shaking while he tried to pull himself over the ledge and Bruce jumps to his feet next to her, runs towards the center ring when everyone else is running away and hugs the boy when he reaches the bottom of the ladder, buries the small face in his shoulder and doesn't let the kitten look at his parents' bodies, doesn't let him see the blood and the bones and the cruelty of the world.

Selina couldn't move from her seat if she tried, just gripped the arm rests and tries to remember how to breath. She doesn't even realize she's crying until she puts a hand to cover her open mouth and feels the slick, warm wetness on her cheeks.


End file.
